Punjab-Haryana High Court
Joga Singh And Others vs State Of Punjab on 28 March, 2012
Author: A.N. Jindal
Bench: Hemant Gupta, A.N. Jindal
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002
Date of decision: March 28, 2012
Joga Singh and others
.. Appellants
Vs.
State of Punjab
.. Respondent
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Hemant Gupta
Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.N. Jindal
Present: Ms. Baljit K. Mann, Advocate for the appellants.
Mr. Pavit Singh Mattewal, Addl. A. G. Punjab.
A.N. Jindal, J
Out of six accused, indicted for causing culpable homicide
amounting to murder of Mohan Singh, two accused namely Kuldip Singh
and Baljinder Singh were acquitted and the remaining accused were
convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to
pay fine of Rs.1000/- each under Section 302/34 IPC.
Accused Joga Singh son of Udham Singh and Gurbhaj Singh
are the residents of village Chhajalwaddi and are brothers of Biro wd/o of
Ranjit Singh. Kulwant Singh and Joga Singh sons of Jagir Singh are the
co-villagers of the aforesaid two accused, whereas, Baljinder Singh and
Kuldip Singh (since acquitted) are the residents of village Chhajalwaddi and
Thothia respectively. Biro, after the death of her husband, has been
residing in her farm house at village Muchhal. The deceased Mohan Singh
was also residing in the farm house along with family and his brother at a
distance of about 100 yards from the house of Biro. The accused were
suspecting that the deceased had illicit relations with Biro.
On the intervening night of 28/29.5.2000, when Sohan Singh
complainant (brother of the deceased) and his nephew Swinder Singh were
in the house, Mohan Singh left for the house of Biro saying that he was to
take back the cots which she had taken on account of celebrations of
Akhandpath at her house. The complainant further stated that after about 20
minutes they heard the shrieks which were identified by them to be that of
Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -2-
***
Mohan Singh. They went towards the house of Biro and saw in the electric light that Joga Singh brother of Biro was giving "dattar" (sharp edged cutting instrument) blows on the head of Mohan Singh. His brother Gurbhaj Singh was also inflicting Sua blows to Mohan Singh and when Mohan Singh fell on the ground, Kulwant Singh and Joga Singh both sons of Jagir Singh gave dang (stick) blows to him. On seeing them, they ran away from the spot with their respective weapons. On reaching near them, they saw that Mohan Singh had succumbed to his injuries. On account of the dead of thenight night, they did not lodge the report, however, on the next day i.e. 29.5.2000, when the complainant was going to lodge the report, SI Jarnail Singh met him on the way, where he got his statement Ex.PC recorded, which was completed at 12.15 PM, on the basis of which FIR Ex.PG/2 was registered. SI Jarnail Singh reached the place of occurrence; prepared the inquest report Ex.PF; injury report Ex.PT; inspected the place of occurrence; picked up blood stained earth and took the same into possession vide memo Ex.PU; he picked up one parna and took the same into possession vide memo Ex.PV; he prepared the rough site plan Ex.PX and took into possession the clothes of the deceased as handed over to him by C. Tejpal Singh and C. Daljit Singh and recorded statements of the witnesses. The accused Joga Singh and Gurbhaj Singh were arrested on 1.6.2000 and weapons of offence were recovered from them. He also arrested Baljinder Singh, Kulwant Singh and Joga Singh sons of Jagir Singh on 6.6.2000. He also collected the report Ex.PE of the Chemical Examiner, wherein, sample of earth, underwear, baniyan and dattar, as sent to the laboratory, were opined to be stained with blood. He also collected serologist report Ex.PCC whereby the blood on the aforesaid articles was found to be disintegrated. On completion of the investigation, challan against the accused was presented in the court.
The accused were charged under Section 302/148/149 IPC, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
In order to substantiate the charges, the prosecution examined 11 witnesses. C. Tejapal Singh (PW1), C. Daljit Singh (PW2), MHC Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -3- *** Jaswant Singh (PW4), C. Hardial Singh (PW9) and C. Hira Singh (PW11) are the formal witnesses. They tendered their affidavits Ex.PA, Ex.PB, Ex.PD, Ex.PZ and Ex.PDD respectively. Sohan Singh (PW3) and Swinder Singh (PW6) are the eye witnesses. They have reiterated the prosecution version in all minute details. SI Jarnail Singh (PW8) had initially investigated the case, whereas Inspector Balbir Singh had arrested the accused and recovered the weapons of offence from them.
When examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. the accused denied all the incriminating circumstances appearing against them and pleaded their false implication in the case. Joga Singh and Gurbhaj Singh sons of Udham Singh have stated that their sister Biro had 4-5 acres of land in village Muchhal. Sohan Singh wanted to buy the said land but she had leased it out to Santokh Singh against his wishes, which attracted annoyance of Sohan Singh. Consequently, they were falsely implicated in the case.
Accused Kuldip Singh and Baljinder Singh took the defence that Sohan Singh and Mohan Singh were indulging in the business of narcotic and were suspecting them to be informants, as such, they were implicated out of enmity. Joga Singh and Kulwant Singh took the plea that their close association with Joga Singh son of Udham Singh is the cause for their false implication.
In defence, they examined Mangat Singh (DW1) who deposed that Muchhal is a big village having population of 4000. Dalbir Kaur @ Biro (DW2), while supporting the cause of her brothers has stated that her husband Ranjit Singh had died five years prior to the occurrence and she had given her land on lease to Santokh Singh. Sohan Singh wanted to grab the said land by hook or crook. She has been residing in village Chajjalwaddi and rarely visited village Muchhal and there is no electric light in her farm house. She also denied if there was any Akhandpath Bhog at her house on the day of occurrence.
Ultimately, Baljinder Singh and Kuldip Singh were acquitted, whereas, the remaining accused were convicted and sentenced accordingly, by the trial court.
Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -4-*** Arguments heard. Record perused.
Much stress has been given by Ms. Baljeet Kaur Mann, Advocate for the appellants that there was a grave delay in lodging the FIR so also in sending special report to the Illaqa Magistrate; it was blind murder case; the presence of the witnesses is doubtful. Though, the accused Gurbhaj Singh is stated to have caused Sua injuries but no stab or punctured wound was detected by the doctor conducting the postmortem examination upon the dead body of Mohan Singh. Similarly, the accused Kulwant Singh is stated to have caused injuries with iron rod on the legs, knees and arms, but as per medical report, no such injury with a laceration was found on the aforesaid parts of the body of the deceased. Iron rod was bound to cause some lacerations accompanied by bruises or abrasions but no such wound was detected by the doctor conducting the postmortem examination. Further it was urged that the evidence of two eye witnesses being interested and inimical in nature could not be placed reliance.
As regards delay in lodging the FIR, it would be pertinent to mention here that virtually, there is no such delay. The delay, if any, the same stands explained. The FIR speaks to the volumes that the complainant could not go to the police station, on account of the darkness. Since the occurrence had taken place during the dead of the night and they were living in the farm house, the accused after causing injuries had fled into the fields, therefore, reasonable fear could shroud in the mind of the complainant of being trapped by them, if he set for the police station to lodge the report or to go to the village to inform the respectables or his relatives. The evidence also reveals that the police station was at a distance of about 1.½ kms from the place of occurrence and it was difficult to go to the police station due to non availability of the conveyance or any source of transport, therefore, in all human probabilities, he must not have left the house during the odd hours of the night. Consequently, his plausible explanation that he did not leave the house on account of fear due to darkness, obviously, is to be accepted. The evidence further reveals that Sohan Singh left the house early in the morning and he came across SI Jarnail Singh on the way where his Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -5- *** statement was recorded. He must have taken some time to record the statement and then to dispatch the same to the police station. The statement appears to have been completed at 12:15 PM and the FIR was recorded on the basis of the said statement without any loss of time. The FIR reached the Illaqa Magistrate at 7:10 PM on the same day. After excluding some time which may have been spent by the constable taking the First Information Report from the police station Jandiala to the house of the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Amritsar, it would not be appropriate to hold that it was delayed special report. The trial court has rightly observed that the police officials cannot be expected to work in a mechanical manner. Thus, it cannot be said if any inordinate delay occurred in lodging the FIR. Even otherwise, there is consistent testimony of two witnesses, namely, Sohan Singh (PW3) and Swinder Singh (PW6), who have consistently narrated the occurrence in all minute details which stand corroborated by the medical evidence. In such circumstances, the delay, if any, in lodging the FIR pales into insignificance.
As regards the argument, with regard to doubtful presence of the witnesses at the time of occurrence, we do not countenance the same. Both the witnesses i.e. Sohan Singh (PW3) and Swinder Singh (PW6) are closely related to the deceased and Mohan Singh and Sohan Singh, both brothers, had been residing in the field. The house of Biro was not far away, but situated in the fields at a distance of 2½ killas from the house of the deceased. The dead body was recovered from in front of the house of Biro. The accused Joga Singh and Gurbhaj Singh are brothers of Biro. Though, they were levelling allegations against Sohan Singh qua their grudge agianst him, yet, they did not explain as to how and in what other manner the occurrence had taken place. The case as set up by the accused is that Sohan Singh wanted to grab the land of Biro to which they did not agree, therefore, they were falsely implicated in the case. If common sense is applied by a prudent man, in the given circumstances of the case, then the inference would be that, in all human probabilities, such a remote motive could not be a cause for their false implication in the case.
Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -6-*** As regards the argument with regard to non examination of any other witness in the case, it may be observed that the occurrence had taken place in the fields during night time, in front of the house of Biro, therefore, availability of the witnesses or presence of the other witnesses, could not be possible, whereas presence of Sohan Singh and Swinder Singh P.Ws. who were residing quite near the house of Biro and waiting for the deceased, who had gone to take cots at her house, could not be doubted and they could positively be believed when they said that they having been attracted by the shrieks of Mohan Singh, reached the place of occurrence. The presence of the accused is also not doubtful. The evidence apparently reveals that a function in connection with Akhandpath at the house of Biro had concluded. In such circumstances, the accused certainly must have visited her house being brothers and other relatives and stayed at the house of Biro after the celebration of the said function.
We also do not agree with the contention that there was no electric light in the house of Biro. It is often seen that the people living in the farm houses situated in the fields do not get the electric connections and consume the electricity by getting the same from their electric motors or use electricity unauthorisedly. It is not proved on the record at all that Biro was not consuming electricity at all from any source. Some discrepancies have been pointed out in the statements of the witnesses qua the time during which the accused stayed at the house of Biro and that they had collected Panchayat and the time of arrival of the police, marriage of Biro, but having examined the said discrepancies, we find that the said discrepancies are so minor in nature that the same do not in any way effect the substratum of the prosecution case. The illiterate people in the country side are never so meticulous and articulate qua the time and they give the same by guess work or approximations. However, both the witnesses are quite consistent in their statements with regard to time, place and the manner in which the occurrence had taken place Despite the lengthy cross examination conducted upon them, their reliability and trustworthiness could not be impeached.
Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -7-*** As regards the medical evidence, Dr. Ashok Chanana (PW5), who conducted the postmortem examination on 30.5.2000 at about 11.00 AM, on the body of Mohan Singh, found the following injuries on his person :-
1. An oblique incised wound 5 x 2 cms bone deep with clotted blood was present on the left parietal region of the head in its centre.
2. An oblique incised wound 6 x 2 cms bone deep with clotted blood was present in the centre and top of the head.
3. An oblique incised wound 6 x 2 cms with clotted blood was present on the right parietal region of the head in its centre.
4. An oblique incised wound 5.5 x 1.5 cms with clotted blood was present on the back of the head in its centre.
5. Multiple (4) dark reddish coloured abrated bruises varying in size from 5 x 4 cms to 7 x 5 cms were present over the tip of left shoulder, front of left upper arm and left fore-arm.
6. An abraded bruise of dark reddish colour 4 x 3 cms was present on the back of left fore-arm in its lower 1/3rd.
7. A lacerated wound 3 x 2 cms with clotted blood skin deep was present on the tip of right great toe.
8. A dark reddish bruise 25 x 20 cms was present over the right buttock.
9. Muliple (4) reddish brown abrasions varying in size from 3.2 cms to 1.5 cms were present on the front of right leg.
10. Multiple (3) reddish brown abrasions varying in size from 3 x 1.5 cms to 2.2x 1.2 cm were present over the front of left leg.
11. A dark reddish bruise 25 x 22 cms was present over the Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -8- *** left buttock.
12. Multiple (4) abraded bruises of dark reddish colour varying in size from 3 x 2 cms to 5 x 1.5 cms were present over the right upper limb.
13. A dark coloured bruise 7 x 5 cms was present over the front of right upper arm.
14. A dark coloured bruise 10 x 5 cms was present over the right shoulder region.
15. Multiple (4) abraded bruise varying in size from 3 x 2 cms to 4 x 3 cms were present on the front of right thigh at its antero lateral aspect.
16. Multiple (4) dark reddish bruises varying in size from 15 x 5 cms to 12 x 3 cms were present on the right lateral aspect of abdomen.
17. Multiple (4) reddish abraded bruises varying in size from 3 x 2 cms to 1x 0.5 cm were present over the back of the chest in the scapular and inter scapular region.
The scalp contained dark coloured subgaleal haematoma. Membrane of brain, pleura, larynx, trachea, both lungs peritoneum, stomach, small intestine, liver, spleen and kidneys were pale.
He also opined that the injuries were ante mortem and were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. He also disclosed that the time elapsed between the injuries and the death was immediate and between the death and postmortem was within 24 to 36 hours. No such question was asked if the injuries on the head and left fore-arm i.e. the injuries No.1 to 4 could not be the result of dattar i.e. Sharp edged cutting instrument. The injuries No.1 to 4 being oblique in nature could be the result of dattar. Similarly, no such question was asked to the doctor if the injuries No.5 to 17 could not be the result of stick. As such, the medical evidence qua this aspect of the matter is quite consistent with the ocular Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -9- *** version. These injuries being abrasions or bruises could in all probabilities be caused with the stick.
However, we are persuaded by the other argument raised by Ms. Baljeet Kaur Mann, Advocate that the medical evidence is contradictory qua the injuries caused by Sua and iron rod as alleged by the prosecution being inflicted by Gurbhaj Singh and Kulwant Singh. The FIR Ex.PG/2 reveals that Gurbhaj Singh was having Sua and Kulwant Singh was having iron rod with which they caused injuries to the deceased. According to the FIR, there are direct allegations that Gurbhaj Singh inflicted Sua blow to the deceased, but Sohan Singh (PW3) and Swinder Singh (PW6), while appearing in the witness box, have made improvements in their statements qua this aspect of the evidence. They have stated that Gurbhaj Singh was armed with Sua affixed on a dang and he caused injuries to Mohan Singh by using the said weapon like dang. Similarly, Swinder Singh (PW6) has stated that Gurbhaj Singh inflicted Sua blow like a dang. Admittedly, as per medical evidence, there is no punctured or stab wound on the body of Mohan Singh, as such these witnesses appear to have made improvements to that extent in order to fit their statements with the medical evidence. Consequently, possibility of Gurbhaj Singh having not caused any injury to the deceased cannot be ruled out.
Similarly, as regards the participation of Kulwant Singh in the commission of crime is also doubtful. Kulwant Singh is stated to be armed with an iron rod. He allegedly caused injuries on the chest, knee, legs and arms of the deceased. However, as per medical evidence, no such injury was found on the chest or knee. As regards the legs and arms it is not stated as to on which part of the legs and arms, he had caused the injuries. Similarly, there is a direct evidence that Joga Singh son of Jagir Singh was also handling dang with which he had inflicted injuries on the person of Mohan Singh. It is also further noticed that iron rod being made of steel material is certainly a heavier weapon, than a stick as such it leaves more impact on the body than the stick. If the iron rod is used for causing injuries on the bone parts i.e., chest, knee, legs and arms, then some Crl. Appeal No. 276 -DB of 2002 -10- *** lacerations were bound to occur but according to the medical evidence except one laceration all are abraded bruises. The only laceration is injury No.7 which is on the tip of left great toe and the same could be the result of fall on the hard surface or otherwise. As such, we also doubt the participation of accused Kulwant Singh in the commission of the crime.
As regards the defence plea set up by the accused, Biro never came up with this plea that she does not stay at village Muchhal appears to be false and concocted one. Had she not been residing at village Muchhal, the question of enmity with the deceased or her brothers would not have arisen. Resultantly, the impugned judgment needs to be rectified.
Consequently, we partly accept the appeal, set aside the impugned judgment qua accused Kulwant Singh and Gurbhaj Singh and acquit them of the charges and direct that they be set at liberty forthwith. However, the appeal qua accused Joga Singh son of Udham Singh and Joga Singh son of Jagir Singh stands dismissed.
(Hemant Gupta) (A.N. Jindal)
Judge Judge
March 28, 2012
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